The novel “Deep Time” by Trevor Baxendale was published for the first time in 2015.
The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald embark on the Alexandria, the luxurious starship built by Raymond Balfour. The aim is to discover the last wormhole that in the distant past was part of a vast network built by the Phaerons, a once very powerful but now-vanished civilization.
For some members of the expedition, the discovery of the last wormhole in the Phaeron network would be the feat of a lifetime. However, the Doctor knows that behind the disappearance of the Phaeron there are dark secrets that go beyond the known legends and involve the Time Lords.
“Deep Time” is part of a series of novels connected to the new “Doctor Who” series. They’re targeted to a wide audience by being linear enough to be appreciated even by very young readers but sophisticated enough to interest more mature readers. With the adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, there was a small change in the size of the novels about “Doctor Who” new series’ adventures, which have become slightly larger.
“Deep Time” is the third novel in a trilogy called “The Glamor Chronicles” in which the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald search for the most dangerous artifact in the universe. I discovered it only after reading the novel and I had the impression that the story was autonomous, so I don’t think I lost any important detail.
Stories of archaeological expeditions in search of traces left by an extinct civilization were written long before the birth of science fiction. In “Deep Time” this type of story has a large cosmic scale because it concerns a space-time network of wormholes created by a civilization that was very powerful. The Doctor’s warnings indicate from the start that there are dark secrets that are best left uncovered but of course those warnings are ignored.
Despite the decidedly unoriginal premise and a plot development not exactly full of surprises, “Deep Time” seemed to me like a pleasant read. The tones soon become rather dark and that creates a tension that helps to keep the reader’s attention. The crew and passengers of the starship Alexandria have a certain development that makes them interesting, also because they make a diverse group with very different individual stories and motivations. When the dangers begin, sometimes fatal, the wait to understand who will survive and who will not increases the tension.
The Doctor and Clara also have good characterization and this allowed me to hear their voices in my mind while reading the novel. It also makes it easy to imagine the two protagonists with their mannerisms and their expressions in the course of this adventure.
The real surprises are concentrated towards the final part of the novel. Even the Doctor doesn’t know everything, even when it comes to the connection between the Phaeron civilization and the Time Lords. Uncovering the missing information about the end of the Phaerons is crucial to eliminating a danger whose gravity is fully understood only at the end.
“Deep Time” is an adventure on a large space-time scale in which Trevor Baxendale uses the characters well, and for these reasons, I found it enjoyable despite the predictable moments. I had no difficulty reading this novel as a standalone story and I think it’s worth reading but it would probably be better to read it after “Royal Blood” and “Big Bang Generation”.
